Japanese Yen Falls Against U.S. Dollar on Plummeting Exports

The Japanese yen fell against the U.S. dollar on Monday, as the Japanese exports slump in May. At the moment, the U.S. currency rose 0.22% to trade around ¥80.22. The Japanese currency seems to suffer from weak trade data. The data published on Monday shows that Japan's adjusted merchandise trade balance was in a ¥474.6 billion deficit in May, compared with a revised deficit of ¥469.6 billion a month earlier. The current trade data clearly shows that Japan is still fighting to shake off supply disruptions that have marred its industrial production since the outbreak of the earthquake/tsunami disaster. Japan's merchandise trade exports slumped by 10.3% in May, compared to a year earlier. In April, Japan's exports declined by 12.5%. Japan's merchandise trade imports, on the other hand, rose 12.3% during May. The slight deterioration in Japan's trade balance was not enough to turn the tide in favor of the European currency, however. At the moment, the euro lost 0.384% of its value to stand around ¥114.16. The European currency is still suffering from the crisis in Greece. The Greek crisis should be the main focus of today's trading, as the major industrial countries are not expected to report much new data about the state of their economies. Traders who believe the supply disruptions will continue to cause problems for the Japanese exporters, which should provide a lot of headwind for the yen, will be interested in the ProShares UltraShort Yen ETF YCS. Other traders might think that the Japanese economy will resolve its energy problems soon, which should provide a significant boost to its economy. The Japanese economy has been operating at a subdued level for some time now. When the supply disruptions problems are resolved and the government reconstruction program takes full effect, the Japanese economy should rebound quickly, providing a tailwind for the yen. Traders who believe in this scenario will be interested in the JPY/USD Exchange Rate ETN JYN and the ProShares Ultra Yen ETF YCL.